Cavs game in Columbus a homecoming for Turner

PHILADELPHIA — While he wasn’t wearing any Ohio State apparel Sunday, Evan Turner’s been known to throw on some threads with the Buckeyes’ trademark scarlet and gray color schemes.

His three-year career at Ohio State was full of achievement — like winning the Big Ten Conference tournament as a junior, the same year he later declared himself eligible for the 2010 NBA draft.

Those fond memories are sure to flood Turner’s thoughts Monday, when he returns to his roots in Columbus, Ohio, for the 76ers’ preseason game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The 7 p.m. game will be played at Ohio State’s home, the Schottenstein Center.

“It just felt, like, ecstatic, you know? Felt like big things were coming,” Turner said, of playing for the Buckeyes. “Coach (Thad) Matta was so excited about the future. He had a path and a plan. You kind of see that with (first-year Sixers coach) Brett Brown. It got you really excited, you know?”

Turner said he’s gotten “a bunch” of ticket requests for the game. He said he wasn’t nearly as sure of who would attend the game as he was of who would visit his house in Columbus.

“I’m going to have the team over (Sunday after the flight),” Turner said. “I have a house in Ohio, and my mom is cooking dinner now. I will allow them to come over and be freeloaders.”

Turner turned his success at Ohio State, including the second-seeded Buckeyes reaching the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament before bowing out in his junior (and final) season, into personal accolades. He was named the consensus national player of the year and was taken second overall in the NBA draft by the Sixers.

Part of Turner wishes he could go back to those days.

“Money’s not really involved (in college). It’s more carefree,” he said. “Sometimes you miss the innocence of it. It was cool every now and then not having any money and finding $10 on the ground, you know? Now, you take it for granted with what you’ve been blessed with. … I know everything comes to an end, but I was grateful to attend, grateful to meet the people I did and grateful to be coached by the people I was coached by.”

For those who are curious, Turner is making $6.7 million this season, the final year of his contract.

NOTES: Guard-forward Rodney Williams, a coach’s decision DNP for the Sixers’ first five preseason games, will see the court Monday, according to Brown. Williams, an undrafted rookie out of Minnesota, has a partially guaranteed deal with the Sixers. … Though he has until Oct. 28 to make his final roster cuts, Brown said he’ll make those moves sooner rather than later. “Yes is the answer,” he said. … For those hoping Andrew Bynum makes his Cleveland Cavaliers debut against his former team, it doesn’t seem likely. But word out of the Cavs’ camp is that he’s down to his playing weight and progressed enough that he might — might — play in their opener Oct. 30. Probably sounds all too familiar to Sixers fans.